Page 74 of Bloodhunter

I stiffened immediately, but Clayton remained relaxed—forClayton—as we waited for Shane to leave his truck and join us.

Shane grabbed his shotgun, slammed his door, then strode byme. “Catch his scent, Sinclair, and let’s get going.”

I traded mystified looks with Clayton, then shrugged andclosed my eyes, shutting out the sounds as I pulled in the scents.

“Got him,” I said, a few seconds later, then hurried tocatch up with Shane. He wanted to ignore what had happened at the last hunt,and I wasn’t about to argue with that.

“How’d you know where I was?” I asked him.

“Didn’t.”

“Oh.” I resisted the urge to grab his arm to make him slowdown. “So you just came here to track Gray on your own?”

“Yeah.”

“But…you don’t have his scent. You can track a group but onesingle vampire? You can’t do that.”

He grunted, his head swiveling as he played his flashlightalong the ground.

“So you’re just tracking vampires then,” I said. “All ofthem.”

“Yeah.”

I was a little shocked at the surge of possessiveness I’dfelt when I’d realized Copas had come to hunt alone. In my territory.

Without me.

“Red Valley is mine,” I blurted.

He laughed. It wasn’t a nice laugh, but a nasty, harshlittle laugh.

I wanted to tell him he was an asshole. I said nothing, justput my mind to finding Gray. I didn’t need Shane Copas to be my friend.

I turned to glance at Clayton and saw him a few yards back,his phone to his ear. I stopped walking. “Clayton?”

“She has him on a short leash,” Shane said. He stood withme, watching Clayton, his face a mask of contempt.

“He has no choice,” I said.

“He has a choice,” he replied. “Even if that choice kickshis ass.”

“Such as?”

He stared down his nose at me. “He could ask me to killhim.”

I shivered as his coldness touched my bones. “Would you?”

“Absolutely.”

“Miriam…” I cleared my throat. “Miriam says he can’t die.”

His smile was dark, his voice like gravel. “I can make himdie.”

I stared toward Clayton, who’d turned his back to us and wasmuttering into his phone. “She’d just bring him back.”

When Shane didn’t answer I turned to look at him, and caughta glimpse of him disappearing into the silver and black woods. He wasn’t goingto wait for me.

“Clayton,” I urged. “Let’s go.”